Explore angles using this engaging and challenging activity! Can you pick 6 apples in 6 shots using Fruit Picker? Choose a direction and degree to turn the pointer to pick apples from various points. The goal: get all 6 apples in just 6 tries. The display tells shots taken. When finished, feedback provides the number of shots taken to pick all of the apples. Choose next to continue to a new display.

In the Classroom

This site is excellent for use on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to learn about angles while practicing mental addition and subtraction and problem solving. Challenge students to think about a solution before beginning the activity. Complete each activity in as few of steps as possible. Have students create their own Fruit Picker activity modeled on this site, have them trade with classmates to solve different activities. This model is based on a 180 degree line. Challenge older students to make a similar activity using a circle.

Turn meaningful words into beautiful images in just seconds using Quozio. Paste or type your quote into the quote box or use the site's bookmarklet to highlight text from the web to use as your quote. Enter who said it. Scroll through background images available to use with your quote. When finished, share via Pinterest, Facebook, or email. You can also RIGHT click the image to SAVE image as and download a copy to your computer for printing or use elsewhere. Register on Quozio using your email to save quotes directly on the Quozio site.

In the Classroom

Use Quozio to create a beautiful image to begin a unit. Start with an interesting quote or comment. View the finished picture on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as a starting point for the unit. Make a bulletin board of quote images as writing prompts or verbal snapshots of an era, an author, or a famous person. Have older students be responsible for creating a Quozio image each week with a quote of the week or interesting comment on events that occur in class. Have students choose one interesting quote or piece of information from any text to create a Quozio then have students explain their choice as part of a class presentation.

Create matching and multiple choice quizzes. Register on the site using email to begin. Choose "manage quizzes" to create your first quiz. Provide a name, description, and begin adding quiz questions and answer options. Save and preview as often as desired until satisfied with the quiz. Quizdini supports HTML, so adding links to outside content within quizzes will make each quiz unique. Share completed quizzes using the URL in your browser bar displaying the finished quiz.

In the Classroom

Use this site to create online quizzes. Create a quiz as a review to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector for pre or post assessment of units. Have students take the quiz independently or in cooperative learning groups. Pretest your gifted students and allow them to "test out" of material they already know. In younger classrooms, use a whole class account to make quizzes together. Older students can create their own quizzes to use for review, as a peer challenge, or as a final project. Suggest that students create quizzes as followup for their listeners after a class presentation. Provide a link to quizzes on your class website. Use the online clock in the matching game as motivation for students to play and improve response time with correct answers.

Scrible is an annotation tool that allows you to identify content on any web page. Add notes and tags, and then bookmark the notes into a research collection. Download the Scrible bookmarklet to your toolbar to begin. Use multiple colors to highlight, underline, or strike through web page content. Add sticky notes to any web page to include your own comments and categorize annotations using type and color to organize saved content. Share annotations via email easily using the share function. You can also save it to your own library available in "the cloud" from anywhere. Free accounts offer 125 mb storage or 250 mb for student accounts. Student accounts also include features to capture citations, create bibliographies, and compile notes from multiple articles into one report. Note: student accounts require a school-issued email address (edu or k12 type).This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

There are so many applications and possibilities for this site! Use prompts on articles to build Common Core skills analyzing informational texts. How many times have we heard students complain during a group project, "But I couldn't get to his or her house to work on it?" Tell them to use Scrible to interact online. The research and conversations created through highlighting and annotating what they read can greatly enhance both their research skills and their online interaction on academic level skills. Or use the site to post and share discussion assignments on specific articles or even parts of articles using the highlighting tool. Find a relevant article to your subject. Highlight the part that you want students to read. (If students are younger, keep it short to reduce the intimidating reality of too much information for kids.) Attach a note with a discussion question for the students. Have them comment on the link in a "class discussion" as an outside assignment. If you are fortunate enough to have all students with computer access in your class and at home, such as in one to one laptop (or byod) program schools, you can use this essentially to run your class. Post assignments or post readings. Science teachers can post online interactive labs, and more.

Take free online courses offered by outstanding professors from prestigious schools like Dartmouth, Vassar, Duke, and Northwestern. Choose from dozens of courses and lectures covering a broad spectrum of topics. Learn through video, PDF, PowerPoint, discussion boards, and educational articles. Scroll down the site to view course titles and click enroll to begin.

In the Classroom

Allow gifted or advanced students to enroll in courses that interest them or that provide enrichment beyond classroom content. Share this program with others in your building as a resource for professional development. Explore the topics yourself for some new, engaging topics to round out your own expertise. Allow students to enroll in a course that would fit into their career goals as an exploratory opportunity in that field.

Share TeachersFirst's weekly Features SItes automatically on your teacher blog or school web page. If you can copy/paste and use embed codes, you can choose from two formats to show the current Featured Sites on your teacher blog, ed tech coaching page, or resource page for preservice teachers. The widget automatically updates your page with new content every week. Note that use of these widgets is limited to educators and is not allowed on fee-based or commercial sites. Once you place the widget on your page, it automatically updates with the new sites each week -- with no work by you! Share the reviewed resources you trust with your colleagues, parents, and students. Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers!

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If you know how to use embed codes, use this widget to offer trusted, weekly new content on your web page. If you do not know how to embed, ask one of your tech-savvy students or colleagues. It isn't hard at all! Be sure to tell you edtech coach or instructional technology specialist and library/media specialist about this great, free service.

Design your own domino path or view paths created by others using Drawminos. This is the virtual version of the game played at home for years. This site could be used with any age! Create an intricate set-up then watch the dominos fall. Drag and drop dominos and balls using the link on the toolbar. Copy and rotate dominos as desired to complete your path. Save when finished and share using the link. Not quite ready to create? Click on Favourites to view examples made by others.

In the Classroom

This site is perfect for your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as a problem solving activity, to teach cause and effect, or as a cooperative learning project during a unit on motion. Demonstrate how to use this site; then allow students to explore on their own. Create a link on classroom computers for students to use during recess or computer time. After creating a domino path with Drawminos, challenge students to replicate using real dominos. Be sure to video tape and share on you class website!

Twiddla is an online meeting space and collaboration tool that is like having a whiteboard skin placed over any website or image so you can draw and more. Discover options available in the practice area named the Sandbox. Choose options for collaboration such as a url, uploaded image or document, or collaborate together on a blank screen. Use the Invite button to share the collaboration url via email or copy/paste. Take a snapshot of your session at any time and export as an image. Pro Accounts offer additional features, such as screen captures and password protection. Receive these services free as an educator, find the directions in the FAQ.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Twiddla to explore and save information from any website. Display any website on your interactive whiteboard using Twiddla. Add text, highlight information, and mark up the site as you wish. Take a screenshot and add to your classroom webpage for students to view at home for review. Have a flipped classroom? Create a lesson from any image, document, or website using Twiddla then share the image for student use. Art teachers can have students annotate a web-based image to emphasize design elements. Teach notetaking by having students mark up important ideas on a web page (perhaps evidence found in informational texts?) Hold an online conference with students about their web-based projects using Twiddla. Use Twiddla with your bring your own device (byod) classroom or in the computer lab to highlight and share information from documents, images, and websites.

Broadcast live to the Internet from any phone to create a phlog (live voice-blog) using ipadio. Register on the site with the phone number desired. Then call one of the local numbers provided by ipadio. After the welcome message, enter your pin number and start recording for up to 60 minutes. Disconnect using the # button on your phone, and your phlog is complete! Once complete, login to your ipadio account to view the broadcast and find the embed code for sharing on your website. Ipadio has both iOS and Android apps, both free at the time of this review.

In the Classroom

One interesting option available with ipadio is the ability for other users to call in with your account. Have students call in with answers to homework using your channel. View how to do this at the help section located in ipadio. If you already do podcasts, use ipadio in a similar manner to share course content or describe step by step procedures for math problems, etc. Create a weekly phlog to embed in your class websites with a summary of the week's activities. Do this during class and allow students to add to the summary. Have BYOD? Create a class phlog and assign rotating student groups to make audio summaries/review podcasts of class content. Invite them to be creative by developing characters and their own creative podcast format. Library/media specialists can invite students to create ipadio book reviews. World language teachers can assign students to create ipadio podcasts of dialogs or cultural topics to build spoken language skills.

Making the Common Core Come Alive provides many resources for implementing and teaching Common Core Standards. Scroll through this page to find templates for designing units, a self inventory of understanding of the standards, curriculum templates, and much more. Download one of several units such as 1st Grade persuasive writing, middle school force and motion, or high school comparing and contrasting plant and animal cells. Each resource includes a short description along with a link to a PDF or Word document for your use.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the free resources including the templates for developing Common Core lessons. Share this site during professional development sessions. Use the templates for lesson and unit planning.

Diamonds are forever and so are diamante poems created on this free site. This is a great tool to shape up your poets through the structure of a 7 lined diamante poem. Learn about the diamond-shaped poems that use specific types of words for each line. Rhyming isn't needed, but needn't be impeded. Describe a central topic or two opposing topics like night and day. View the examples before creating your poem. Each screen provides an organizer for any poet to complete. Click on the parts of speech for definitions while composing poems. Edit your poem, if needed, before printing, downloading it as a PDF, or sharing through email. Save your draft to continue at a later date. This site is a must during poetry month in April.

In the Classroom

Diamante poems are a fun format to write about a single topic or to compare/contrast two topics. Review parts of speech and then apply these concepts with writing diamante poems. Work the idea of cause and effect into the diamante poem format for a challenging activity with your poets. Provide students with diamante poems with a few words missing and have them fill in the blanks to complete the poem. Compare or contrast text passages for any subject area or use the diamante format to summarize a selection. Provide your students with images, and have them write diamante poems about the images. Make homemade greeting cards with your students to give using this format of poetry or write "about me" poems using this tool at the start of school.

PreKinders offers printables and teaching ideas for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers. Explore the learning areas to find quick and easy activities for literacy, math, and more. Choose from themes such as fairy tales and families. Search through the many printables in all subject areas as well as classroom management checklists, assessments, and posters.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site to use throughout the year. Use the printables and images from this site for your bulletin boards. Take advantage of the free lesson plans offered. Check out the holiday and back to school activities for use in the classroom.

Find "ready to use" lessons, thematic units, classroom management ideas, and much more at this one-stop resource for elementary teachers. Explore the reproducibles section to find templates for science observation, an excellent Problems with Dice activity, and an Internet usage survey. After choosing a reproducible, be sure to look on the right side of the page for other reproducibles not listed on the main page. The Innovative Classroom also contains an extensive list of center activity ideas, class certificates, and bulletin board suggestions. Be prepared to spend a lot of time here finding and saving ideas!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site for use throughout the year. Explore the center activities to use in your classroom. Search lessons for ideas to incorporate. Print behavior and classroom management ideas for use with students.

Have fun learning math at Kids Math Games Online! Choose from categories including money, problem solving, and logic. In addition to many interactive games, find interesting number facts, math tutorial videos, math pictures, and printable quizzes. Click on any topic to begin then choose from offerings. Activities include simple instructions for play and offer immediate feedback on content. This website is pretty heavy on the advertisements, but worth the "annoyance." Note: The videos embedded on this site are NOT created by kidsmathgames and are hosted on YouTube. They come from various sources. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Create links on classroom computers to games that correlate to current math content or use previous activities for ongoing review. Parents are always looking for sites to practice skills at home, share this one through your class website or newsletter as a fun way to practice math skills. Use the math pictures library as a resource for finding many different math images for use in interactive whiteboard lessons, on handouts, or many other classroom uses.

Learn and practice long multiplication with this step by step tutorial and practice activities. Choose "show me" to view an example of completing long multiplication problems in the traditional method. When ready, choose start the game to try for yourself. The program defines and explains each step in the process. Input answers to problems along the way. When complete, choose New Question to start over.

In the Classroom

View the Long Multiplication site on your interactive whiteboard with students to demonstrate and practice the traditional method of solving long multiplication problems. Create a link to this site on classroom computers for students to use for review and practice. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos of different multiplication methods and share them on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here. Share a link to the site on your class website or newsletter for students to practice at home.

View and practice solving division problems using the traditional method at this Long Division website. See two different worked examples solved step by step using the example button, then start the game. Select from four different sample problems choosing a difficulty example. Turn off prompts or leave them on for additional help. Each step prompts you to solve a portion of the problem and displays the answers throughout the task. The site's app version is not free.

In the Classroom

Share the step by step instructions on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Create a link to the site on classroom computers for students to practice. Share this site on your class website or newsletter for students to access at home. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos demonstrating various methods of division and share them on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.

Metta is a multimedia presentation tool that allows you to combine videos, pictures, and text to create short movies. Create an account using your email address or Facebook to begin. Start with a title, choose to build a story from scratch or an RSS feed, and click create. Follow prompts to drag images from your computer or insert video URLs. Add new chapters (slides) and reorder as desired. Trim video clips using the tools provided with the editor. Add text or record audio using your computer's microphone in any chapter. Save and publish when finished. Share using the URL provided or embed code.

In the Classroom

Use to create educational videos and projects to introduce and interest students in a topic. Use to generate questions prior to the discussion of topics. Create a multi-image slideshow where students brainstorm how the images are all connected. Have students create projects for class using Metta. Be sure to include this tool on your blog, wiki, or public page for easy student access. You may want to consider allowing your older students to create their own accounts, depending on school policies. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here. Upload pictures and videos once a month to share through your classroom website or blog, or allow a group of students to create each month's review. Create a project site for students to upload images and videos found when studying any subject. Upload images with squares, triangles, rectangles, etc. when learning about shapes. Upload pictures of plants for a science unit, etc. Have students upload family pictures when learning about families. World language students can create digital photo stories to narrate using new vocabulary. Present teacher professional development or an end of year display for the school media center. Have other staff members upload images and videos from the year of school activities.

Smarterer helps identify what you know about many subjects and helps identify your weaknesses in others. Explore tests by categories such as games, language and writing, or math and finance to begin. Choose a test and take a practice question which will not count on your score. Take complete tests after signing in using your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn account. You can also use your email. View scores at the end of each test and your ranking on a scale from beginner to master based on comparisons to other test takers. Create your own tests easily using step by step directions provided on Smarterer. Give your test a title, then add questions and multiple choice responses. Choose to let others add questions to your test or not. Tests will appear on Smarterer after approval from the site moderators. The site continues to add new tests, many user-created.

In the Classroom

Use Smarterer to help students identify areas to improve in different skills. Use some of the tests for students to "test out" of curriculum such as email etiquette in computer class or to motivate students to learn about real world skills they will need in the job market. Share this site with students to use at home for quick assessments in many subjects. Create your own tests to use for review and share with students to take and identify areas for further study. Demonstrate how students can track progress through retaking tests (students will need their own account).

Explore how math and architecture are closely linked as you view these 9 famous buildings. Discover the mathematics behind the buildings' famous facades. Each building has a short description along with a link to the definitions of the mathematical component involved. Although simple in its look, this is an excellent starting point for exploring math connections to architecture and buildings in the real world.

In the Classroom

View and explore this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Assign groups of students the task of exploring other buildings. In Art class, have students explore the relationships between math and aesthetics. Have students find other examples of the use of mathematical concepts (some ideas have been added in the comments on the site). Send them out into the community to take digital pictures on their cell phones of mathematical concepts in buildings. Challenge the groups to create a project using Padlet, reviewed here. The Padlet application creates free online bulletin boards. Have cooperative learning groups create online books of mathematics in architecture using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here.

Use Google Keep to save notes directly to your Google Drive account. This tool requires that you have a Google account. Unlike some similar services, such as Evernote, reviewed here, notes kept in Google Keep are saved to your Google Drive account. Use for notes, voice notes, lists, and photos. Access these on any web enabled mobile device. Keep works best with Chrome browsers (there is an extension for Chrome, also) and Android phones, but our editors had no issues using other browsers as well. Google Keep can also be also used with any school's Google Apps account. Keep is colorful, which is part of the design. Be sure to use the colors as an organizational tool. Keep has a low learning curve and is very simple to use. The quick note feature is invaluable: just type your notes in the text box without logging in or switching screens. To leave a voice note, tap the microphone icon and speak. Archive items easily when you are done. Though Keep is a more generic, basic tool, its value is in its simplicity and ease of use.

In the Classroom

Take pictures of things to do, buy, or finish. Create checklists of steps in a project. Place all of your notes in one place so you do not forget. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. They could "keep" assignment information, reminders, and more. Consider creating a class account that can be used by all students. Spell out the use of the site and what is allowed and not allowed -- and the penalties. Even though all students have the same login, create different notebooks for different tasks that students can use to upload information to be shared by all. Create separate accounts for student groups who can then share their notebook with other groups. Use to snapshot and share links, documents, files, and pictures for any group project or class work. Whole class accounts can be used by a class scribe during class and accessed from home for review, by absentees, etc.